New bill would mandate that light bulbs produce 120 lumens per watt by 2020

It looks as though energy efficiency is still a big priority
for municipalities and countries across the globe. We've already detailed energy-efficient LED
lighting efforts put forth by Raleigh, NC. We've also discussed how Australia and the European Union (EU)
plan to get rid of incandescent light bulbs by 2009. The United States is also
moving towards ushering out inefficient lighting with H.R. 1547, which was
published on March 15, 2007.

The bill (PDF),
which was submitted by California representative Jane Harman, indicates that
light bulbs which have an overall luminous efficacy of 60 lumens per watt
(lm/W) will be prohibited by January 1, 2012. The energy requirements get
progressively steeper every four years. On January 1, 2016, the requirement
will grow to 90 lm/W and will reach 120 lm/W by 2020.

Exemptions could be made by the Secretary of Energy for
certain applications where it wouldn't be feasible to use energy-efficient
lighting. These include applications related to military, medical or matters of
public safety.

If an exception is made by the Secretary of Energy, that
still doesn't give entitle the recipient to a free pass to continue using
outdated technology. The exemption will only be in effect for two years after
which the current enacted requirement will have to be adhered to.

The bill also notes that consumers and businesses will be
given incentives to encourage the use of energy efficient light bulbs.

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One wants to transport electricity at as high a voltage as possible. Losses are current times current times resistance, where resistance is that of the wire. So lowering the current by a factor of ten reduces the energy lost by a factor of one hundred. Increasing the voltage by a factor of ten reduces the current by ten fold -- for the same amount of energy. That's why the voltage is still pretty high going into the transformer that's usually installed for each very small group of homes and why one doesn't want it too low going into the home either. If anything the higher wall voltage (~220V) used in much of the world would be better (other than being a higher safety risk which is the primary tradeoff).

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